Crashes during exercise

[BMCG]

10/3 morning run, tracking with GPS, looked at watch at mile 2,

checked a couple minutes later and it was the workout screen where you scroll to choose exercise. So I restarted “run” and went home. Synced to phone, 2+mile run is not there, was never recorded, didn’t sync. This is a MAJOR  reason for buying a gps tracker, it must work every time.  

Other problems-

finally got pandora stations to show up when I forced sync for 15th time on work WiFi, got Home put watch on charger, Home WiFi, pandora station and disappeared!!!! Fitbit Please fix software! Will Ben returning off not fixed in next couple weeks for refund. 

I was excited aboit Ionic becuase I like fitbit, battery life vs Apple Watch, and combined the function of my old gps running watch and all day tracker. But it was released with too many problems.  Please post update on firmware fixes that may be in the future. 

Moderator edit: edited title for clarity & format

[runnerboi418]

@fkimura: many of us have experienced this same issue for a while (months).  For many of us, it happens at the first Auto Lap point if you have set one up for your workout.  For example, I have had it crash at the first 2-minute Auto Lap point on the treadmill, the first 1.0 mile Auto Lap point on a GPS run, etc.  If it gets past the first Auto Lap point without crashing, it does not crash.

For the past 3 days, however, I followed a recommendation from @sfringer: before reaching the first Auto Lap point, interact with the display ... specifically, swipe twice (for example to change the center display from overall time, to time of day, and then to pace or whatever).

I have done this on 3 consecutive GPS runs and multiple treadmill workouts without any crashes ... and given the frequency with which I was previously experiencing the crashes, I take this as rare good news.

I recommend you give it a shot on your next run and/or ride ... at least we can say that it couldn't hurt?

@sfringer: thanks again for the tip ... I'll keep doing your hack and will report back periodically. 

BEK

[BenBenson]

Bek
We're you listening to music from the Ionic?

[runnerboi418]

I was not and haven’t listened to music on the Ionic in a while.

Not to bring up another issue with the watch but I started having trouble with the connection to my Plantonic Bluetooth headphones so I switched back to music from my iPod Nano while working out.

BEK

[lachellesays]

I don’t believe mine has had anything to do with auto lap settings. It crashed 3 miles into a 10 miles run the other day. I paused my watch for about 30 seconds, and when I went to unpause, it had crashed. 

I have been turning the Bluetooth off on my phone, and so far so good. Not sure if that’s anecdotal or not, but I’ll take it for what it’s worth. 

Of course my 11 mile run this past Sunday, the GPS disconnected and never reconnected. On a clear day, in a city with not that many trees/tall buildings.  

[fkimura]

Thanks, but I do not use the autolap while running and while in bike ride
thats not possible...

[MarreFitbit]

Hi guys, thanks for keeping me posted! It seems to be with Auto-Laps where the crash is coming from. 

Can you all please try interacting with the display? Exactly what @sfringer has mentioned in this post. Also, can you try with a different activity besides run? And let me know if by doing this, your app is no longer crashing. Want to gather all the information provided by you guys so I can share it to our team.

For example, in your case @lachellesays you mentioned that it seems that Auto-Lap has nothing to do with the crash. Can you try with another activity and see how it behaves?

Thanks for your time and cooperation. 

[fkimura]

I´ve tried running (no autolaps), bike (no autolaps), and walking (no autolaps either). No music from ionic.

walking and running without music or headphones whatsoever. Crashed in all cases... 

[Dinobean]

Mine crashed last with auto laps off, auto pause on and notifications off.

It has also crashed with auto pause off.

I am still very dissapointed with fitbit and the response to this issue.

[MarreFitbit]

Thanks so much for the information provided @Dinobean and @fkimura! On last thing, can you please try taping the screen once to start their exercise (just once)? 

If the issue persists, let's refer to this post. In the meantime, try manually logging your activities to avoid losing your credit. 

Going to share your findings to our team and I will get back to you as soon as we have new information. 

Thanks for your time and cooperation with this matter! 

[fkimura]

---

@MarreFitbit wrote:

Thanks so much for the information provided @Dinobean and @fkimura! On last thing, can you please try taping the screen once to start their exercise (just once)? 

If the issue persists, let's refer to this post. In the meantime, try manually logging your activities to avoid losing your credit. 

Going to share your findings to our team and I will get back to you as soon as we have new information. 

Thanks for your time and cooperation with this matter! 

---

I actually loose my credits on the heartbit app which gives me milleage points for outdoor exercise, as long as you actually move using gps+strava, thanks to this bug. Manual logs doesn´t count for this app, and I lost my points.

[fkimura]

Everyday I use ionic to track my bike ride to work and back home.

Today I checked my ionic (to see if it crashed) seconds before entering the building garage to park and lock my bike. It took 5 minutes tops. When I checked it again, it was crashed back to the main screen.

Would it be the lack of GPS signal? The building garage is underground...

Last week it crashed before entering the building, but it was raining and I could see it lost the GPS signal, probably because of the clouds and rain, before crashing.

Again, it was with laps off, notifications off, autopause off, no music.

[CLA200]

This is a clue. Looking at my tracked data on crashed runs. The HR and GPS
signal is lost during trackning until the certain point that it is crashing
and tracking ends.

[SilviaFitbit]

Thank you so much for continue sharing the details about the issue you're experiencing @fkimura and @CLA200. 

I want to confirm that our team is aware of this and working toward a resolution. In the meantime, we truly appreciate if you manually log the activities, this way you won't lose the data that's being tracked.

Your patience and understanding is appreciated, any update about it will be posted here. 

[GySgt_Seidell]

Hello folks,

I’ve been trying to recreate this event, but have been unsuccessful, which leads me to my suggestion.  If at all possible, you may want to try your exercise with either your phone “off” or without it. When I opt to leave mine home (which I do 99% of the time),  I have no issues.

Hope this helped and keep on STEPPING!

[sfringer]

My phone is never with me on a run; the whole reason for getting the Ionic. So in my experiences that is not a contributor.

And to be honest, I no longer risk a crash as I routinely interact with the Ionic before my initial auto-cue alerts at the 1 mile point.

One thing I wonder is if people have removed any of the default apps from their Ionic. I know I have, I do not use Deezer, Pandora, Starbucks, Strava and have removed those. (Interestingly, one of the recent Android App updates seems to have pushed the apps back to my Ionic and I have re-removed them again)

[runnerboi418]

Same here ... I never have my phone with me when working out.

I also continue to follow the recommendation from @sfringer to interact with the display before hitting my first auto lap point (whether on the treadmill or outside on a GPS run) and I have not experienced a crash in a couple of weeks.

BEK

[DebDarl]

I have found recently, twice this week and last week, that the ionic no longer records a swim. Crashes at about the 10 minute mark. Obviously no phone involved at all. Can't feel vibrations while swimming and often don't have time to check until a set is finished, only to find that it is back to clockface. Disappointing and annoying. Strangly enough, it auto records just fine but you can't check laps done or anything, which is the reason I wear it in the first place. I have trouble with it syncing to the phone at times...also maddening and can't sinc to PC as the icon to do this isn't there. I did check the manual...and I have used it in the past.

I've also had trouble with the battery only lasting a day and a half but I changed the screen brightness setting and it has improved. I got my ionic in December and had no problems until that first download after Christmas/New Year. Maybe you should check that out.
Cheers

[Hebrews12-1]

I've tried interacting with my watch prior to hitting the first autolap as suggested (which I have set at 1 mile) and I haven't had the run application crash since.  I would guess I have probably been on about 7 runs since I started trying this.   Immediately prior to trying this, it crashed on 4 runs in a row and sporadically before that.

Although the app isn't crashing at the 1 mile mark when I interact with the screen that doesn't mean it has been trouble free.  In the last couple of weeks the app crashed when using the treadmill app, even though I didn't have auto lap enabled.  And twice in the last couple of weeks on GPS runs the GPS has gone to "connecting" and doesn't recover.  Once at mile ~4 and the other time at mile ~13.  The timing of these issues are more random and don't happen exactly at the 1 mile mark.

For the record I never run with my phone outdoors and almost always with music.  The treadmill incident was the exception where I had my phone nearby and no music was playing.

I have been experiencing all of these issues on and off since I purchased the Ionic last October.  I expected some bugs in a new product but I never would have thought they would have lingered on for a full year.

[wil455]

I deleted all of my emails I've received on this because it was getting
annoying having so many messages from people having similar issues and then
today after a flawless 3 weeks, my Ionic crashed. Thankfully I didn't have
to wait long for another email to pop up to reply to. I NEVER have had my
phone with me on a run, and have all phone notifications disabled. I
stopped using the Ionic with my music, because that's where I noticed the
crashing most often. THAT was the biggest reason I purchased the Ionic. I
even entrusted Fitbit with the Flier headphones which were a huge
disappointment comfort wise. Again today, my Ionic crashed near the 1 mile
mark. I mistakenly said it's been a flawless 3 weeks before this...I did
have a run in which the Ionic lost GPS connectivity 3 times over a 4 mile
run...I just never pinned that on Fitbit. However the best solution I can
think of to resolve this issue is to purchase a Garmin. I've had my Ionic
since late February 2018 and disappointment is the kindest word I can use
regarding my experience. I've always recommended Fitbit products, but in a
little more than 3 years of usage, I've gone through 1 charge HR, 3 Surges
(only 1 was replaced by Fitbit as they wouldn't replace a replacement even
though it failed within 12 months), and now an Ionic that has crashed more
than a dozen times in 6 months. Fitbit, you can fix these issues, but if
and when this watch needs to be replaced, likely before that, I'll be
purchasing a Garmin. And I've recommended all of my friends, my Facebook
running group of more than 5k runners, as well as my regular weekly
challenge group to do the same. Very disappointed.

[sfringer]

And this morning, despite my pre-auto-cue voodoo, the Exercise app on my Ionic silently died at the 0.15 mile mark (this was determined post-run after syncing and having a 0.15 mile run recorded in addition to 2d longer run). As the route is a fairly regular route, when I hadn't received a cue at what should have been 1 mile, I raised my Ionic and it was displaying the time. I then successfully restarted the Exercise app and initiated a new run.

As the crash occurred prior to the regular auto-cue point, I think there is a separate issue causing this crash.